Awards

2014
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Best Profile

First Place SPJ-Detroit for a profile of the first American to die in Syria's civil war.
Judges’ comments: "What an interesting topic. And such a challenging reporting job, given the circumstances of
Mansfield's death. I'm sure many reporters in Detroit wish they'd written this piece. Nice detail throughout. Great sources,
some of whom surely weren't eager to talk. Some of the father's quotes stuck with me long after I'd finished reading."

2011
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Open Government Reporting

First Place SPJ-Detroit award for investigative work on the FBI shooting death of an African-American Muslim leader. Judges said of my work: "The extensive reporting revealed information publicly undisclosed, illuminating a fascinating and complicated case."

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Articles

archive.freep.com
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As a Catholic TV station based in Ferndale becomes increasingly popular around the world, church officials are trying to tell the public that the media outlet does not represent Catholicism. In two public statements, the Archdiocese of Detroit has taken the unusual step of publicly criticizing Real Catholic TV, saying "that it does not have the authorization required under church law to identify or promote itself as Catholic."

freep.com
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Pentecostal Assemblies of the World has a socially conservative message, but elected its first female bishop at its 100th annual convention, being held in Detroit this week Bishop C. Shawn Tyson of Ohio exhorted a packed crowd inside the ballroom of a downtown Detroit hotel to stay true to their Christian beliefs.

freep.com
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For years, Michael Cleggs of Kalamazoo has been part of the Boy Scouts, either as a member or a leader. It's an organization that the openly gay man says instill good values. But the Boy Scouts once had policies banning gay members and leaders, resulting in him getting removed from a camp about 9 years ago, he recalled.

usatoday.com
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DETROIT - More than five years after the FBI's shooting death of a Muslim leader in Michigan, his family is still trying to find out what happened and get the names of those who shot him during a sting operation, maintaining there was a cover-up by federal authorities.

freep.com
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More than five years after the FBI's shooting death of a Muslim leader in Dearborn, his family is still trying to find out what happened and the names of those who shot him during a sting operation, maintaining there was a cover-up by federal authorities. This month, the family asked the U.S.

freep.com
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After an intense debate, Dearborn City Council has delayed its vote on whether to ban smoking in all of its parks. The council was ready to vote tonight on the proposal to ban smoking in all of the city's 43 public parks.

freep.com
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World records were unofficially set Saturday in Detroit at the Michigan Science Center, as the world's largest chain machine toppled about 200,000 dominoes. The Guinness Book of World Records hasn't yet certified it officially, but organizers say they successfully created the largest Rube Goldberg machine, which refers to machines that usually involve a large number of chain reactions, such as toppling dominoes.

freep.com
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Jerrine Habsburg-Lothringen, a Commerce Township painter who had ties to European royalty through her husband, died on Tuesday, July 14, 2015, at her home of complications from cancer. She was 84. A longtime resident of Farmington Hills, Mrs. Habsburg-Lothringen painted portraits and landscapes, teaching painting classes at Oakland Community College, Visual Arts Association of Livonia and the Bloomfield Birmingham Art Association.

freep.com
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Thousands are expected to walk through the streets of Novi on Sunday for an annual festival that has grown since it started at Belle Isle in the 1980s. The 30th annual Festival of Chariots - called the Michigan Rathyatra - features the pulling of a 40-foot-tall colorful chariot that contains a statue of a smiling Krishna, seen to followers as Lord.

usatoday.com
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DETROIT - As the sun beat down at Spirit of Hope Church in Detroit, Jeremy Smith, 16, sliced through a long tree branch in an alleyway near the house of worship. He was helping clear brush on Thursday, one of about 30,000 people in Detroit this week for a youth gathering of the biggest Lutheran group in the U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).